Western policymakers have been beset by challenges since the financial crisis. Economic volatility, geopolitical risk, a more assertive China and the energy transition loom large. The West’s edge in the technologies of the future seems at risk. Worries about the communities and areas that have been left behind by deindustrialisation have mounted.
For all the criticism, Western governments have, in the main, responded quickly and imaginatively to the shocks of the last few years. The pace of vaccine development and deployment greatly exceeded what seemed possible at the start of the pandemic.
